Nebraska basketball rallies to force overtime, but falls short in final seconds at Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Nebraska made up a 16-point deficit in the second half Friday night at Penn State to force overtime. The Huskers then took the lead three times in the extra period.

But a 17-foot jumper from guard Tony Carr with 2.7 seconds left gave Penn State a 76-74 victory.

Carr, who was 2 of 17 from the field in regulation, hit 3 of 4 shots in overtime.

Nebraska had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but guard Glynn Watson’s off-balance 3-pointer rimmed away. At game’s end, forward Isaiah Roby tried a 45-footer that was short.

“Tough game and a disappointing loss,” coach Tim Miles said on his radio show. “I thought we had done enough things to come back and earn the win. But we didn’t do enough with discipline and execution.”

The execution of the final attempt in regulation drew criticism from Miles.

Nebraska flipped the game by going to a 1-3-1 zone with about eight minutes left and trailing by 13. The Huskers went on a 19-6 run, which Watson capped with a tying jumper with 1:25 to play.

With 25 seconds left, guard Evan Taylor stripped the ball from Penn State’s Lamar Stevens, who led all scorers with 26 points, and Watson collected it to give NU a chance at the final shot.

“We run a play late and break it off and take a bad shot at the end of regulation,” said Miles, who wanted Watson to drive to the basket after a screen from Roby at the top of the key.

“Isaiah is coming in to set the screen and is getting held up a little bit, and couldn’t quite get in position. Then Glynn broke the play off and unfortunately took a tough shot. Tough shots are usually bad shots.”